last night's clothes and tomorrow's dreams
by theotherthompson
Summary: He turns over in his bed to look Morpheus in the eyes. "Who are they? Why aren't they the One or whatever? I've seen them, I know that they can do things no one else can." Morpheus raises an eyebrow, looking Neo in the eyes. "Those men are what we call glitches. They're the only ones of their kind. We're not sure if they're human."


**AN** : QLFC Season 5 Round 6. Extension used. Prompts used are _token_ , _headphones_ , and the _word limit of 1833_ (1, 4, 11). I was given the movie The Matrix, which I hadn't watched in forever. I had to rent it again just to remember what on earth happened, lol. This was really hard for me to write, for some reason, until I switched to Neo's point of view. As a general note, I didn't explain much of what was going on in the story. Just hints for people to piece things together. Idk, but it might be fun to continue this if I was more interested...

The title of this fic comes from the song _Uma Thurman_ by Fall Out Boys.

Word count: 1747

* * *

Neo wakes up to a strange dream. Pinching himself assures him that this is reality, but it feels like a dream anyway.

 _Follow the white rabbit_ , his screen had said, and there the white rabbit was. God, suddenly his life is becoming a sci-fi movie - more than it was already, at least.

Hacking is one thing. Hacking and finding a possible conspiracy where the words 'the Matrix' keep appearing is another, but one that he can get behind. Predictions like a knock on his door and a girl with a tattoo of a white rabbit appearing a second after he's told to follow one is a bit out of the scope of what he's used to.

Neo follows anyway. He feels like he should make at least a token protest, since following the directions of an unknown, shadowy figure from the net seems like a bad idea in general, but -

He's been seeing things. Strange things. Impossible things. A dog where a man once was, slinking into the shadows. Laughter where there's no one. Entire city blocks being destroyed by 'gas explosions,' except there's always men in black suits surrounding the building instead of emergency services. A glowing white stag, like a spirit, bursting out of a door, only to disappear after a young man with bright green eyes and messy black hair follows. A man with shaggy hair and stubble, sending those men in black suits flying clear across a street with a wave of his hand, grey eyes narrowed.

The tapes are only a couple of seconds long. They always disappear after a day, but hackers circulate them quickly when they appear, sharing with each other, asking each other. Whatever the Matrix is, the incidents are connected.

Neo has been wondering for a long time.

* * *

"You know who," Trinity says. She steps back to disappear into the crowd, but Neo's hand snaps up, wrapping around her wrist tightly. She glances down with a blank expression, raising her other arm up to push him away.

"Wait," he says, his hand tightening, "wait. Do you know who those men are? The one the guys in suits are chasing."

Trinity looks up sharply. "You've seen them?" she asks, stepping back a bit closer.

Neo nods quickly, muttering quickly into her ear. "I've seen the tapes but I - I saw them once. They passed me by in a street, they were running. I followed them around the corner, but they disappeared without a trace. I got out of there before the suits showed up."

Trinity almost smiles. "That happened to me too."

A loud, raucous laugh startles them both out of their shared moment. Trinity shakes her head, then sighs. She steps back again, and this time Neo lets her go. "Ask him, when you meet," she says, then disappears in the throng of people.

Neo stares even after he loses sight of her. His hand tingles.

* * *

He wakes up to a strange dream.

Or it would be a dream, if his whole body didn't protest against existing. He has blurry memories of waking up and being told his muscles had atrophied, but they seem fine now, just sore as he uses them. What's more concerning is how sensitive his skin is to _everything_. The fabric of his clothes feel rough, but he knows logically that cotton shouldn't feel like that.

It's only concerning because it means he isn't dreaming. That he's… the One. Whatever that means.

"If I'm the One, then who are those men? The one's still stuck in the Matrix?" he asks Morpheus, suddenly angry. He's scared. Everything he knows is a lie, and Morpheus is just sitting there, staring off into the middle-distance. Neo has his answers but they weren't answers he ever wanted. He doesn't want to be the One, or whatever this prophecy calls him. What could he do? What could he do to save the entirety of the human race?

He turns over in his bed to look Morpheus in the eyes. "Who are they? Why aren't they the One or whatever? I've seen them, I know that they can do things no one else can."

Morpheus raises an eyebrow, looking Neo in the eyes. "Those men are what we call glitches. They're the only ones of their kind. We're not sure if they're human."

Neo blinks. "Not human? Then what are they?"

Morpheus looks away. "We don't know."

* * *

A beautiful woman passes him by.

"Hey," Neo says, interrupting Morpheus. He dodges another businessman. "About those glitches. What do we know about them?"

Morpheus turns. "Not much," he replies, his face unreadable behind his shades. "They appeared around one hundred years ago, but they have never made consistent appearances. The agents always chase them when they appear, but we haven't been able to discern if the agents want to capture or kill them."

"Agents?" Neo asks.

Morpheus smiles without humor. "Take another look at that woman you saw earlier."

Neo turns around to see a gun pointed at his head.

Everything pauses but Neo and Morpheus. Behind the gun Neo can see a middle-aged white man in a black suit, his expression severe. His eyes are hidden by sunglasses. "Agents?" Neo asks again, voice shaky.

Morpheus nods. "They jump between bodies of whoever is in the Matrix. Anyone who hasn't woken up is potentially an agent." Morpheus steps closer circling Neo and the frozen agent. "They're stronger and faster than us. Don't engage them if you can help it."

"How the hell do you fight them then?"

Morpheus folds his hands behind his back. "We don't. The glitches do." He turns away. Neo blinks and the agent disappears. The world resumes, like someone pressed play. Morpheus begins to walk back the way they came. "You meet an agent, you run. If you're lucky, one of the glitches is close by and the agent goes after the glitch, or the glitch goes after the agent."

Neo follows quickly. "Why? Why are they fighting each other? Are the glitches helping us?"

Morpheus shakes his head, but he doesn't look back. Up ahead, a building explodes. A handful of agents, around seven, appear suddenly in the crowd. Neo tenses, arms coming up to fight, but the agents run right by them. They're going towards the explosion.

"We don't know. But the glitches have never gone out of their way to help us."

They're outside the burning building now. A few of the agents look their way, drawing their guns, but they turn back when someone walks out of the building. It's the older man - or glitch. He's grinning manically as the agents fire at him.

Neo watches with wide eyes as he stops the bullets aimed at him midair with some kind of shield. The man laughs, before turning away and running. The agents that move to stop him are blasted away with a wave of his hand. The agents give chase.

"What do you think?" Neo asks breathing unsteady.

Morpheus stares after the glitch. "I think they're looking for something."

* * *

Neo races after Trinity, Switch, and Apoc. He pants as he runs, keeps forgetting the lesson that Morpheus had tried to drill into his head, but he's keeping up.

"We have to go back," he says, trying to convince Trinity. Her hand is tight around his wrist even though he hasn't tried to pull out of her grasp since they escaped the building they left Morpheus in. "We can't just leave him there!"

Trinity's face twists in grief. "We have to," she says roughly, dragging him along another alley. In front of them there's a bang. A window slamming shut.

Apoc pushes him along. "Just go, Neo," he says. "We need to get out."

In front of them there is a sudden bang. A window is slammed shut. "Deja vu!" Neo yelps, just before an agent steps out of the shadows in front of them, in arm's reach.

Switch swears, "How'd they know where we are?" They retreat backwards, stumbling over themselves, but the agent only spares them a glance, lips pulled back in a sneer, before looking further up the alley. Just visible in the gloom is a young man with bright green eyes and messy black hair.

"Oh," the man says, standing up from his seat on top of an abandoned fridge laying on its side. "It's you guys again. And - and the guys in leather. Huh, I thought you two didn't like each other all that much." His hand reaches up - the agent in front of them tenses, hand moving supernaturally fast to the gun at his side - but the man is only removing his headphones from his ears.

He puts the headphones and a walkman into his jacket's pocket. It doesn't even bulge.

"You're the glitch!" Neo exclaims, unconsciously trying to move closer. Trinity pulls him back with a hiss.

The agent glances back to scowl at Neo before facing forward again. The agent steps forward slowly, like he's approaching a stray cat.

The glitch looks amused. "Is that what I'm being called now? I have a name you know -"

"Harry James Potter," the agent says. "If you would please come with me."

Switch murmurs quietly, "We should go while the agent's occupied."

Trinity nods, tugging Neo to the mouth of another alley. Apoc hurries before them scoping out the area, while Switch keeps the rear, watching the agent and glitch intensely.

The glitch - Harry - narrows his eyes. "Just Harry, thanks." He takes a step back. "And I don't really want to go with you, Mr. Agent."

The agent pull out his gun. Harry grins. "Look up," he says to the agent. A second later a mound of debris from construction rains down, burying the agent alive. With a sharp bang, a man appears on top of it - the second glitch.

"Sirius," Harry greets cheerfully, "you're late."

"You're worse than I was at your age," Sirius says, crouching down on top of the small hill he's made. "How will we ever get back home if you're always getting into trouble?"

Before he can see anymore, Trinity pulls him away.


End file.
